I Need a Favor
by Outsiders Obsessor
Summary: Based on the prompt "Can you come pick me up from IKEA? I think I accidentally fell asleep there last night." Set almost immediately following Episode 4x13. Happy said that she and Toby needed a bedroom set, but he never thought it'd end up turning into this big of an embarrassment. She couldn't land herself in jail for something this stupid. Especially not with Toby out of town.


**I Need a Favor**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of the canon characters in this story; they belong to CBS and their real life counterparts they were based on for the TV show** ** _Scorpion._** **This is set right after 4x13. I hope everyone enjoys; see the author's note at the end for further notes! All lines completely in italics are flashbacks.**

This is officially one of the weirdest situations that Happy Quinn, now Happy Curtis has ever found herself in, which is saying a lot. She blinks rapidly upon waking up, startled at first as she doesn't quite recognize her surroundings. It is then that Happy, genius mechanic and team pessimist, remembers the conversation she had last night over the phone that led her into this situation. With her brain recalling every second of the conversation, Happy plays it back in her mind, trying to figure out why it all went wrong.

 _"_ _We need a bedroom set, Doc," Happy remembers saying on the phone to her husband as she prepares to leave the garage at the same time that Toby, Walter, Sylvester, and Paige are about to get on their flight back from Portland where they were meeting with a trio of bad guys who had turned into good guys and needed help bringing some perps to justice who had been evading them for years now. Cabe was politely asked not to come on this one, because a federal agent would attract attention and the clients already had a hitter of their own that apparently Cabe even knew better not to cross. Happy had not been an absolute necessity on the trip either, due to the technology and mechanics specialist, so she had volunteered to run point from the garage as well as keep an eye on Ralph and Cabe throughout the day. (Cabe was going to keep Ralph overnight if Paige and the others weren't back before ten.)_

 _"_ _Yeah, I agree, Happy," Toby's voice had sounded quite loud over the phone; he must have been having to almost shout to hear over the airport's noise. "But, I mean, it can wait one more day before we go to get one. That way I'd be home and could— "the genius shrink had continued, only for Happy to cut him off._

 _"_ _Toby, I mean no offense when I say this, but your sense of decorating is not the best out there. I mean, you have a picture of a whale with a hat on in our apartment. Not the best decorating instincts there," Happy grinned, and Toby laughed over the phone before letting his wife continue.  
"Well, ya caught me there, lovebug," he laughed, and may or may not have received a glare from Walter about compromising the efficiency of their return to LA by jabbering on the phone instead of just over his comm. _

_"_ _Of course I did," Happy smiled, somewhat relieved no one could see her grinning like a lovestruck teenager as she prepared to get in her truck and drive to any number of furniture stores, intent to find a bedroom set that at least minutely matched the bedroom color scheme she was going for._

 _And, no, that color scheme is not entirely black, thank you very much. That scheme was reserved for her wardrobe alone._

 _"_ _Besides, we have cases in other countries nearly every other day. I think we need some decent furniture before then."_

 _"_ _Yeah, okay. You win. Just, make sure you test out the bed, yeah? Don't wanna be sleepin' on something that feels like a ton of bricks, do we? So, make sure you can see yourself getting a good night's rest in it. All right, gotta go, Walt's givin' me that death glare again because we're supposed to be boarding. Love you."_

 _"_ _Love you, too."_

 _And with that, Happy remembers hanging up the phone before driving to furniture stores across town, intent to find a bedroom set with the money Quincy had so handsomely paid them with after nearly causing Toby's untimely death in several different ways in that psycho bunker._

Now with Happy knowing why she is here, she begins to wonder how no one has caught her yet. Surely the store would have come and checked to make sure no one was stowing away overnight? Apparently not, because she would have been caught by now. Happy swears quietly under her breath, trying to remember where exactly the entrance to the store was and how she could have let herself fall asleep on one of the display beds put out for testing, but not for actual sleeping. Well, this bed definitely seemed like the one she wanted for their apartment, that's for sure, but it would do her no good if she couldn't get out before the rest of the team got to the garage. If she was later than them at returning to the garage, she is sure she would get an earful from Walter about her efficiency being compromised by the simple task of picking out furniture when that could have been avoided by using her knowledge of construction and mechanics to pick a bed with the best frame regardless of the quality of the mattress.

"Not good," Happy mumbles under her breath, seeing the sun stream in from the extremely high windows of IKEA, and knowing that Toby definitely would be at their apartment by now, probably worrying sick about her and not being able to get in contact with her because no doubt he had kept his phone on airplane mode and then went directly to bed, thinking Happy would be back by midnight at the latest.

Judging from the angle of the sun streaming through the window, Happy would guess it was around seven AM, almost time for her to head for the garage if she were back at the apartment with Toby. From IKEA, it would take an extra twenty minutes, give or take based on the traffic. Knowing she is up a creek with no canoe as the statement goes, Happy realizes she will have to find a way out of the store by hacking or picking their electronic doors just to be able to reach the outdoors, get in her truck, and hopefully get back to the garage before Walter could throw a fit about punctuality or before Toby put out an alert that she was a missing person. She shudders at both options. She does really like this furniture set, though. Too bad she would have to dismantle it to get the parts she needed to pick open the door and keep from decapitating herself in the process.

When Happy picks the lock enough to get her outside, she goes outside and is quickly apprehended by two security guards who grab her arms before starting to interrogate her in what Toby would call "Twenty Questions for the Non-Genius Interrogators".

"Excuse me, ma'am, did you just come from inside?" one guard asks, working at his tool belt to reach for a walkie talkie, intent to call in a suspicious subject that had the brains to break out from inside IKEA when their security system is one of the strongest in the retail stores in all of LA.

"Yeah. What's it to you?" Happy inquires, not sure where this conversation is going, and she can't believe she's actually having this conversation all because she fell asleep on one of the beds overnight because Toby had told her that she needed to test the bed to make sure she could envision getting a good night's sleep on it.

Apparently, the bed was a little too good at that job since Happy actually was able to get a good night's rest on the bed set. Oops. Well, she can at least say that the bed was high quality and would definitely be better for herself and Toby versus the old mattress Toby had brought over from his apartment that had springs popping out of the side. So, the genius mechanic knows she can play off the real reason for her overnight stay because these two dummies seemed like they had just gone into the security guard business because they, like the cop when Walter was hanging off the cliff, had gotten mostly D's in high school.

"Uh, yeah. See, my Homeland team was contacted yesterday to check out the security system as well as the rest of this storefront because it seems like that their may be some shady dealings going on here," the genius mechanic begins to fabricate the story, and while the two frazzled security guards shared confused looks, Happy manages to swipe both men's walkie talkies because she cannot have them calling for any other guards.

She couldn't land herself in jail for something this stupid. Especially not with Toby out of town. Boy, would he take a kick out of this story if she told him whenever he got back. His Happy Quinn, caught by two security guards no older than mid-twenties that probably felt so lucky to catch their first perp, or genius mechanic as it is.

"We didn't get any-"

"Yeah, well, Homeland's supposed to work quietly."

"Where's your badge, lady?"

"I'm undercover. My boss, Agent Cabe Gallo, he told me not to bring my badge, said civilians wouldn't know how to react to a Homeland agent coming to their store."

A beat of silence passes, and neither of the guards seem to believe that statement at first.

"You can call him. He'll answer," Happy swallows nervously, hoping that Cabe actually has his phone turned up since he usually turned the ringer down low whenever he is keeping Ralph for the night. "Gallo is a reliable boss. He'll tell you exactly what I just told you," she promises, sending a quick thought to the sky, knowing that Cabe can't hear her but hoping that he gets the urgency that he's supposed to answer the phone.

"We'll call him to corroborate that story, ma'am. Until then, you'll understand that we need to keep you cuffed until he affirms that you are under his employment," the taller guard remarks, while his associate gets out his phone, preparing to call Cabe's number and probably interrupt the domestic, quiet Cabe and Ralph are having, probably complete with Cabe's scrambled eggs and a card game of some sort.

Happy swears within her own head, feeling the taller guard clamp some cuffs on her wrists in order to prevent her escape. All of this seemed a bit much for the genius' tastes. Toby was right, however. Any future child of theirs would have some gangster in its blood if the situations she and Doc found themselves in are any indication.

The smaller guard had moved away from Happy and his associate to call Cabe, just in case Happy had been lying and they needed to bring the police here without causing a big fuss.

"Agent Gallo," Cabe's booming voice comes as soon as the phone rings once, because he always panics whenever the team is not where he knows they are absolutely safe. "Who am I speaking with and what is your intent?" Scorpion's government handler and team Dad demands, quick to protect his cyclone; he would gladly lay down his life if it meant his kids got even one more minute alive on this planet.

"Sir, Agent Gallo, this is a security guard calling to make sure that this lady is one of your agents," the guard speaks up, his voice quavering as he realizes that Cabe Gallo, hot blooded Irish and Italian Homeland agent is not a man for small talk and having others ruin his Sunday morning.

" _My_ agent? Who, may I ask, do you have down there?" Cabe inquires, not sure who in the world the timid man just barely out of high school could be referring to.

"A woman, mid-thirties at the earliest, Asian, black hair, about five feet five, sir."

"Yeah, that's my girl all right," Cabe sighs, knowing that description can only refer to one woman that he knows well enough to know he would pick up. "Agent Happy Quinn. Let her go; she was workin' in deep cover and she did nothing to deserve your suspicion," Cabe continues, not sure where Happy could be that she could have merited such suspicion as to get the security guards after her. "Do I need to come down there to confirm?"

"No, sir. We'll let her go. Thank you, sir. Enjoy your Sunday, sir."

 _"_ _Boot-licker," Happy can't help but think as she has heard the whole conversation regardless of the man trying oh so hard to keep his voice low._

The man comes over and un-cuffs Happy before explaining how sorry he is to her before releasing her towards her truck which, shockingly, still in the parking spot where she left it.

Happy climbs into her truck, turns the keys into the ignition and is shocked to find that the truck does not roar to life as it usually does. She turns the key again, this time more forcefully as she works to get the motor running, get back to the garage, and hope that Walter didn't give her a punctuality lecture or that Toby hadn't sent out a search party looking for her since it had to be close to seven AM and she still wasn't home. The truck's engine simply seizes up, does not roar to life, and Happy slams her fists on the steering wheel upon realizing that she is going to have to make a very uncomfortable and extremely embarrassing phone call. She goes to her contacts list, scrolls down a few contacts- all of two- and then presses the button to dial. The raven-haired mechanic merely waits for her contact to pick up before she begins to blurt out her situation, bluntly getting to the point as fast as possible.

"I need a favor. Can you come pick me up from IKEA? I think I accidentally fell asleep there last night while I was checking out a bedroom set," Happy admits in a rush, feeling her cheeks flush with embarrassment that she knows she realistically shouldn't have.

"That's what the call I just got was about? You got locked in IKEA?" Cabe incredulously inquires, not believing his own ears at this point. "Didn't you bring your truck there?"

"Battery's dead. I need a jump and I'm not about to call Toby where he can laugh about it and hold that over my head," Happy admits into the phone, and a heartbeat passes before Cabe answers.

"Okay, kid. Give me and Ralphie-boy ten minutes to finish breakfast and we'll be on our way," the once Marine now Homeland agent and father figure to four adult geniuses remarks, silently commenting within his own brain that he is going to have to start keeping closer tabs on the members of his cyclone where he doesn't have to receive cryptic calls from security guards or his kids alike.

All that is left for Happy to do is it and wait, and hope that no one in the garage catches wind of why she had to call Cabe and Ralph in an emergency pertaining to IKEA when all she was trying to do was find an appropriate bed set for her and Toby. Ridiculous.

Cabe and Ralph arrive right on time, Ralph with a plate of eggs sitting on his lap for Happy to eat while Cabe helps the female mechanic jump her truck off.

"Thought you could use some breakfast, Happy," Cabe says while Happy scarfs down the plate of eggs and then drinks the bottle of orange juice Ralph had stashed in his backpack.

She'd reimburse Paige for it later, knowing the ex-waitress was the only one who bought pre-bottled orange juice.

"Thanks. I appreciate you doing all this, Cabe," Happy smiles, not showing her teeth, but that is not at all an action expected of the ebony haired genius. "I didn't know who else to call."

"Why couldn't ya call Doc?" the Homeland agent inquires, exclaiming in victory upon hearing Happy's engine turn over successfully and roar to life.

"You know how Toby is about joking with Walter about mistakes Mr. 197 makes. Can you imagine how bad I would get teased by my husband for falling asleep while _testing out furniture in a store?"_

"Point taken."

"But, I think the best part of this whole adventure is that two security guards had to escort you out until they called Cabe," Ralph snickers as he hops into the passenger seat of Happy's truck as he flips through one of the copies of _National Geographic_ that Cabe had bought him last night.

"Not a word of this is leaked to _anyone_ on the team, kay, Ralph?" Happy bargains, ruffling the young genius' hair and thinking that this must be some sort of indication of how her and Toby's children will be.

Committing small scale felonies such as sleeping in a store after it is closed because they are just that dead tired from missions and needing to keep the secret from one of their parents by calling the parent least likely to anger over the situation.

"Information like that'll cost ya," Ralph smirks, and Happy audibly groans because she knows that is a lesson he picked up from Toby when the genius psychiatrist was teaching the teenage boy how to play a card game from years before Ralph was born. "How much is it worth to you?" he continues to build the dyke, and Happy can't help but snort at the kid's attempts to bargain with her.

Attempts that are currently working.

"How 'bout you and I build that motorbike we were talking about together and then I'll teach ya how to ride it one day when your mom and Walt are out on one of their dinner dates for two?" Happy suggests, and the smile that overcomes Ralph's lips is one of the most enthusiastic smiles that Happy has ever seen directed at her from anyone that is not Toby.

"Deal," Ralph continues to grin before he throws his arms around Happy's neck, squeezing her in a hug before pressing a gentle kiss to her cheek. "Thank you, Happy. I wish we spent more time together."

"We can spend time together whenever you want, squirt," Happy honestly tells him, knowing that she wouldn't mind spending time with the genius boy that the team has come to regard as their little scorpling. "I'd be happy to spend some more time with you, okay? You just can't skip class, okay? 'Cause I don't think your mom would approve of that very much."

"Of course not. I need an education to continue both my intellectual learning as well as improve my EQ."

"Great. Now, what do you say we race Cabe back to the garage?"

Ralph slams the passenger door closed and Happy makes sure he is buckled in before the speed down the pavement, intent to beat Cabe and hopefully some of the rest of the team to the garage.

When they reach the garage, Ralph breaks away from Happy and launches himself towards Paige, wrapping his mom in a hug before asking her how the flight back was, stating how he and Cabe had monitored the weather via satellites before he had been practically forced into bed with some light coercion from Cabe, mainly the older man threatening to take away the _National Geographic_ and make Ralph nothing but eggs in the morning for breakfast. Ralph thought it best to comply, even though he knew Cabe's threat had been more of a joke as he knew the Homeland agent spoiled him when the rest of the team was gone.

Toby, meanwhile rushes over to Happy, the lack of sleep etched completely over his face. And yet, his eyes light up upon seeing his true love and he presses a kiss, long and slow, to her lips which she gratefully returns. She keeps one hand cupping his cheek as he keeps one hand on the small of her back as she leans against his chest.

"I missed you, my turtledove," he softly and sweetly comments, brushing a stray lock of her hair behind her ear in the process. "Why didn't you show up at the apartment last night. You had me more worried than Walter right before he tells Paige he had to cancel one of their dates in order to deal with another world crisis," he jokes, and Happy can't help but laugh as she looks up and sees a grin plastered on his goofy face as well as his ever-present hat adorning his mussed light brown hair that indicated he hadn't had time to brush his hair or shower after the plane trip because he probably had taken as long of a nap as he could manage without being late for work. "I mean, I know Cabe said you guys were late this morning because you were finishing Stratego, but I could tell he wasn't being truthful. What _actually_ happened, Hap?" Toby inquires, looking down at the woman in his arms, feeling as if they are the only ones that matter in the world.

"I got locked inside IKEA overnight, Doc," she admits in a low whisper, and Toby can't contain his laughter. "I was doing what you suggested, dummy. And I guess I really did get a good night's sleep on the bed set I thought we would both like," Happy continues, a smile appearing on her own face as a result. "Good news is it should be at our place by Monday."

 **Author's Note: And there it is! My third contribution to the** ** _Scorpion_** **fandom! I LOVE SCORPION SO MUCH! It is literally one of my favorite TV shows of all times, and I now proudly own all three seasons on DVD, which I am still re-watching to get inspiration. This is my first real attempt at a humor piece, but when my sister texted me the prompt while I was doing an extracurricular activity about a month ago, I knew I'd have fun writing it. After last week's episode, I just knew it had to be about Happy and Toby. So, I hope everyone enjoyed, and all reviews would be completely welcome and appreciated! Also, if you have any ideas for more Scorpion stories from me, drop your suggestions in the comment box or in a PM! Thanks so much for your support, guys and girls, and I hope to hear from you soon! Have a great morning, afternoon, or night!**


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